Gun control measures fail as budget deal remains elusive | State

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota House and Senate negotiators failed to agree on stronger gun control laws Tuesday, while Gov. Tim Walz and top legislative leaders met once again to try to bridge the deep divisions on taxes and spending that are holding up a budget deal.The meeting of the conference committee on the main public safety budget bill marked the first time this session that senators had a chance in an official forum to debate a pair of gun control proposals that passed the Democratic-controlled House but didn’t get a hearing in the Republican-controlled Senate. Both proposals failed on 5-5 party line votes, meaning they didn’t make it into the broader bill.The proposals would have expanded background checks for firearms transfers and allowed police to obtain “extreme risk protection orders” to temporarily confiscate guns from people judged an imminent threat to themselves or others. Rep. Carlos Mariani, a St. Paul Democrat who co-chairs the conference, said they could be raised again as the panel shapes its final budget bill. But approval appears unlikely because both parties are firmly dug in to their positions.The other co-chair, Sen. Warren Limmer, who had refused to give the proposals hearings in his judiciary committee, asked for Tuesday’s votes. He said he didn’t expect gun control issues to go away but that he had a number of problems with both bills.“There are a number of issues here that deserve a little more scrutiny, a little more process,” the Maple Grove Republican said.Rep. Dave Pinto, the lead author of the proposal to require background checks for most gun sales and transfers, said plenty of exceptions were added as it went through the legislative process to try to address critics’ concerns“We can do more to keep guns out of the hands of people who